Silent Pain
by DarthYinYang
Summary: All is quiet in the Hinata household while Dororo looks towards the sky that peacefull night. However, something is off, and what will Dororo do when he finds a deeply hurt Kururu still stabbing the harsh New Year's card the Platoon received? Kuru/Doro


Silence. Darkness. Utter calming sense of peace….The Hinata household sat in the stillness of the night; the wondrous moon sending down it's brilliant rays of moon-blue light and casting long shadows that would seem to drag on forever. Everyone was fast asleep, whether it was on the floor in the living room, or tucked into their soft covers of their bed. New Years that year had been especially kind to the Keroro Platoon, even if it made it even more painfully clear they had yet to invade and rule the earth.

For the most part the party earlier that evening had been a very enjoyable one: there were drinks, several games, and then the big countdown from 10 to one when everyone would scream at the top of their lungs for the new year, to which they would then fall asleep where they almost lay, if they weren't too lazy or tired to actually get to their rooms first before they fell into a slumber.

It was so quiet that it was hard to think that only a few hours prior there had been so much noise, so much activity. Maybe it was a Pekoponian thing; spend some time and do as much as you can, make so much noise, then just fall asleep and wait for the next round of activity. Pekoponians were strange in that way.

Above the city was the ever glowing moon with its white light basking on the roof tops of the many houses in the city. All seemed asleep until it came upon the Hinata family household. On the roof of the Hinata house was a small shadow, just big enough to be able to point it out in such horrid darkness. It stood a few feet tall with a small grey cape encircling its shoulders; a cool breeze causing it to flutter around and offer no protection from the nights bitter chill. The owner of the cape was staring up at the stars and moon as he wondered what strange creatures Pekoponians were.

"I never saw such a lively bunch…Then again, I don't normally partake in a lot of activities…" he whispered lowly to his own hearing, as there was nobody else around to hear him.

Now, who was this person who stood so silently upon the roof, while the others were slumbering so peacefully? Maybe you know him, or possibly forgotten, as many usually do. His name was Dororo, the Lance Corporal for the Keroro Platoon that still had yet to take over Pekopon.

The small ninja closed his blue eyes to think again of the scenes he witness a few hours earlier; the others had forgotten about him, as usual.

Keroro and the other of their platoon had been drinking together (save for Giroro, whom never could hold down a drop of alcohol) in their own celebration for the New Year; Dororo hadn't been invited. It was a bit painful for the ninja to see yet again how he seemed to blow past their memories and thoughts. He had watched from the opened ceiling in despair when they were all laughing together, talking about one thing to another. But he didn't care now. It didn't really matter to him anyways. He never took much initiative to try to get invited, and maybe that's why they always forgot about him.

"Maybe if I acted a little different, people would notice me more…" he mused to himself and crossed his arms in effort to keep out the cold. He had to admit as lovely and peaceful as it was being under the gorgeous stars, it was very chilly. The cape-like coat he wore did nothing to help as it blew continuously in the wind; Dororo was never one to like the cold weather. Of course he could handle being outside; being put through such minor weather was nothing compared to the many hard sessions of training he had to endure on Keron. Blizzards and Deserts were among his most hated though on the list of climates he had to train in.

But just then, the Keronian felt something. Something was off, different almost. He looked up cautiously; it wasn't the moon, it was still as bright and heavenly as ever. Nor was it the wind, it was still blowing its whispers of the bitter chill. After a glance around the neighborhood from his bird's eye view, Dororo could conclude it wasn't a car or noise that came from nearby. But what was it? The trees around him still flowed back and forth with the wind. The roof was still solid against the blue Keronian's feet. What was it?

Again the ninja felt a sudden yet brief feeling coursing through his mind. A feeling that was dark. It seemed….sad, almost. An aura of depression seemed to hang over the household.

"Wh…where did this come from?" Dororo held his hand over his eyes as the feeling seemed to begin to permeate his head, the dark aura getting stronger in rippling pulses. How had he not noticed this before? As a ninja, the Keronian was trained to be able to sense the aura's and feelings of every living thing around him; from the largest bear, to the smallest ant. But this was so odd that he had to do a mental double take to make sure he wasn't just imagining it from the side-effects of his recently turned on trauma switch. After some slightly painful pangs of the dark feeling, the ninja concluded it wasn't.

After the aura seemed to die down only slightly Dororo took the chance to look around for the source of such despair. Again, everything around him seemed as peaceful as ever; the Lance Corporal was amazed that nothing seemed out of place in such a serene and dreamlike landscape while the aura of such horror hung in the air like a plume of smoke.

subiBadum….Badum…..Badum…./i/sub It raved in pulses, like a gentle yet dark heartbeat in the night.

"Where…?" the Keronian had to kneel down from the strength of the next few pulses. Sometimes being so sensitive to the world around you proved to be a good thing, and a bad thing. This time the pain made it clear it was bad. "…Where is this coming…from?..." Dororo closed his eyes in concentration to find where exactly the aura was emanating from. Soon he found it, although not where he was expecting; far from it actually.

"Below me? Why would it be coming there…?" Dororo frowned behind his mask at his findings and took a few cautious steps towards the edge of the roof. He bent forwards just enough for him to peer into the second floor window, as if he thought the aura was coming there. He didn't find it; however, the Keronian did find a sleeping Natsumi. She was surprisingly less threatening when she was asleep. But besides the red-haired teen, Dororo found nothing that would have given off such strong dark waves. Maybe it was lower than the second floor.

"I don't want to wake anyone…I'll use the front door." He whispered to himself and leaned back to he could see a few jumping posts so he could get down from the roof. After a second of planning, the ninja leaped through the air to land on the railing to Natsumi's second floor deck, then to the deck of the first floor, then finally to the ground. For a second the Lance Corporal had to stop; the dark aura came even stronger than before, throbbing in a deep pulse. Dororo wondered for a second why nobody else could feel it; it was so strong he was sure they could, at least a little.

The feelings soon subsided to a manageable simmer of pain. Before he would let them surface again, Dororo quickly made it around the Hinata's backyard and hopped over the car to the front door. He hesitated for a moment as he stood on the concrete floor that bordered the front area of the front door. After a second to breathe Dororo let his hands roam over the smooth wood of the door, searching for the item he planted several months before.

With a small gasp of approval, the small ninja found what he was looking for: hastily he pulled off the thin sheet that covered the elaborate door from which he could get in, regardless that the door was locked. It was a little contraption he devised himself when he first began to come to the Hinata household. It was also his favorite of the many that were also planted around the house. Out of them all, that one was the quietest.

Opening the door slowly Dororo peeked into the house. No one was in the front hall, perfect. He entered the house and closed the small door behind him, unlocked and opened the real door (as quietly as a ninja could!) and replaced the skin-like paper that covered his secret entrance.

Dororo roamed around the house a bit. Upstairs, downstairs, and even a look in Keroro's room proved nothing out of the ordinary. Maybe Dororo was going crazy; the trauma switch had finally broken his gears, made the ninja begin to go insane. The Keronian was just about to forget about it and return to the village where he and Koyuki lived when….the feeling returned. He stopped in place with his hand reaching near the knob of the front door. It wasn't just the feeling now, there was also a sound; a sound he seemed not to have noticed before. It was quiet, like a breathless whisper through the home. Dororo couldn't quite place what it was, his entire being entitled on finding it's source. With his eyes closed he wandered with his thoughts. He roamed past the hall, past the kitchen, and finally felt carpet beneath his feet. It was then he opened his blue eyes, taking a long look around the living room that his thoughts led him too. To his surprise, he realized he hadn't looked in that room, it being so small he didn't think he had to leave the hall to look around.

He heard the sound again, a little louder this time. But that time he could also hear a voice, small and light. It wasn't really a voice per say, but a familiar sound nonetheless. Dororo looked around in confusion, the living room was empty, nothing seemed to be there, yet he knew the sound was coming from there. He took a few steps in the room.

"Ku…ku ku…kukuku…" the small sound permeated his ears. That time he heard it, he realized where in the room it was coming from. Slowly the ninja turned his head to the side, to the a small yellow form hunched over in the corner of the room that wouldn't have been visible from the hall. The Keronian took a few small and quiet steps closer to realized who it was; it surprised him to see Kururu sitting hunched in the corner of the room, over one of the small new years that the platoon had received far earlier in the day. In his yellow hand he held some needles, the other busily stabbing them into the paper. Dororo was surprised he was still stabbing the card.

When the team had received their New Year's cards from back home, it was nice to know they were so popular. Their platoon had been marketed heavily to keep up the moral of the home planet as they watched for the takeover of Pekopon. One card in particular had a lot to say about the marketing; however, it had some not-so-nice things to say about Kururu.

'It has come to our attention that he isn't' a very popular member of the platoon at all, and hardly anything of him is selling. Unfortunately to this, we have to erase his part in the marketing, due to much public dislike of him. Maybe if he could change his color, or possibly tweak his apparent inappropriate attitude, he might sell better.' Were the card's harsh words towards their platoon's Science Officer. But that was almost 4 hours ago; Dororo was shocked to see that the yellow Keronian was still busy needling the card to death.

With a slow breath, Dororo took the initiative to place one of his hands on Kururu's shoulders. Immediately at the contact, Kururu froze in place. Dororo couldn't tell if the other was just surprised, or angry.

"…What do you want? Kukuku…" Dororo almost gasped at how utterly small the voice sounded, a tint of hurt underlining each word.

"…Your still stabbing that New Year's card from Keron?" the ninja took his hand off of Kururu's shoulder and folded his arms. A few seconds of silence ensued, to which Kururu only continued stabbing the card with more needles. Dororo wasn't surprised at his superior's response, or lack of. He allowed some silence to continue, when he asked another question, to which he would hopefully get a needle-less response. "…Did it really hurt you ithat/i much?"

Dororo couldn't help but tilt his head in confusion. How could a rugged man like Kururu, who seemed to derive his humor to the pain of others, be so hurt by a simple New Year's card? To his other question, Dororo could feel the dark aura get stronger; it was evident to him that Kururu didn't want him there at all, and was doing every hint he could to make the ninja go away. Dororo wouldn't though, Kururu was still his platoon-mate, and it was his nature to be worried for others. A sigh escaped the blue Keronian's mouth as he sat down next to the depressed Science Officer. "...Kuru, why is it bothering you so much? You're not one to usually act so...unlike you..." the ninja had a hard time to find the correct words for his question, which made much more sense in his own head. Again he got no response, only the sound of more needling to the card. A slight string of annoyance bubbled in Dororo; following this, the Lance Corporal grabbed the his yellow superior's wrist to stop him from stabbing the card and respond to at least one question. And it worked. Kururu didn't try to pull his wrist from the ninja's grasp.

"…...Contrary to belief on Pekopon and Keron, I am Keronian." Kururu whispered. Dororo stared at the side of Kururu's face for a while, trying to see into whatever the yellow Keronian might have been thinking.

"I never thought a Science Officer with such a strong personality could get his feelings hurt." Dororo regretted his words after he heard how harsh and mean they actually sounded. Kururu quickly retaliated with his own harsh words.

"A ninja, trained to disappear, wants to be seen." Kururu pulled his wrist out of the Lance Corporal's grasp and continued to stab the small white card below him while Dororo was left in shock. It was true, he was a ninja, yet he always savored the idea of being known by those around him. While Dororo was left to think of this own painful thoughts, he didn't noticed when Kururu finally dropped the needles to the ground and sat up more, although still staring at the card.

"I'm not that bad…not in comparison..." the other's voice trailed off to nothing as Dororo was pulled out of his own thoughts to listen.

"...comparison to what?..." The ninja moved closer to he could sit comfortably next to the yellow Keronian. Kururu turned his head only for a second to frown at Dororo.

"If I had wanted to say what, I would have said it, ku ku ku…" And with that Kururu ran one of his hands over the shredded remains of what used to be a New Year's card. His subtle body language gave the indication that he still wanted to stab the card, but it was now in such small pieces that it was almost impossible then.

"And if I wanted to drop it, I wouldn't ask again; comparison to what?" Dororo was getting more and more annoyed at how Kururu seemed to beat around the bush with every sentence he spoke of; like a game of cat and mouse, a riddle that held a riddle. The slightly louder words made Kururu turn once again to look at Dororo. He gave the ninja a cold look; however his eyes were hidden as usual by his glasses, so it was hard to tell for sure.

"In case you can't tell, I'm glaring at you" the Keronian near-growled. Dororo couldn't help but stifle laughter at the words, as if Kururu new exactly what he was thinking. The ninja looked again at Kururu's glasses, curiosity pouring through him.

"Why don't you get contacts? It must be hard to see through those glasses you wear…" Dororo reached a hand to remove the glasses (which then he realized was not a good idea) but Kururu shot out a hand to grab the ninja's.

"Don'.." the other's voice took on a sudden dark tone. Dororo looked in surprise at how hard Kururu was griping his hand. There was a minute or so of unmoving silence. Then Kururu let the other's hand go, to which Dororo rubbed his sore wrist absently where the yellow Keronian had grabbed him. "….Being different as a child isn't helped with intelligence." Kururu said almost to himself, voice small and light. Dororo listened intently to his superior.

"Different?" the blue ninja questioned, but Kururu ignored it.

"It doesn't matter if you know they're wrong. It still hurts... in fact it may be worse. They were too stupid to understand they were being insulted..." Kururu shook his head and sighed. Dororo tilted his head more in confusion, trying to understand what the yellow Keronian was talking about. "It didn't matter what I did….they noticed…they always noticed…."

" ...you wished that they wouldn't notice whatever was different?" Dororo started to put two and two together. Kururu, the Keronian with a heart of steel and humor made of sadism, was telling him his childhood.

"...of course" Kururu whispered sadly. "Wouldn't you wish so as well?" there was a slight cold edge to his latter words.

"Your eyes, are they the things that are so different?" Dororo couldn't help but lay a comforting hand on Kururu's yellow shoulder. "Is that why you wear those glasses all the time?" No response, nothing. Dororo turned his attention again to the swirled glasses that covered the others now mysterious eyes. For a bit the ninja just stared at the side of his superiors face as he thought to himself. Then he noticed a small lines trailing down the bottom of Kururu's glasses to the bottom of his face. Surprise tore through Dororo at his sudden realization: Kururu was crying.

"….." although saying nothing, Dororo could once again feel that dark aura he had first felt a little while before, pulsing stronger than ever. Kururu stared down at the ground, crying silently as Dororo looked on in shock. He never thought he would see Kururu so…vulnerable… The ninja took another amazed glance at the glasses Kururu wore, and without thinking, reached his hand up to remove them. Kururu was taken completely by surprised and let out the most horrid yelp of shock when he felt the protecting shield of his glasses actually leave his face. He quickly turned away in horror from Dororo, covering his face with both hands.

Dororo looked on in worry at Kururu's reaction. Did he really feel ithat/i insecure about his eyes, his appearance? The blue ninja looked at the swirl glasses he held in his hands, then to Kururu, who had his back turned completely to Dororo.

"Don't….don't look at me….my glasses….my glasses…ku ku ku.." the small voice whimpered from Kururu. Dororo saw the yellow Keronian trembling, and ultimately regretted touching such a horrid subject for his superior. Poor Kururu was completely out of it. "Don't look at me…please….subdon't look at me…/sub" A comforting hand was slowly placed on Kururu's shoulder, and the trembling almost got stronger.

"Kururu…." Dororo whispered to the other. Although he knew it might cause him more emotional pain, Dororo tugged lightly on Kururu's shoulder to pull his body to again face the ninja. Kururu at first resisted by trying to shake off Dororo's hand and said a few more words of rejection. With the greatest of gentleness the ninja lowly shushed him, and finally was able to pull his yellow comrade to face him.

For the first time, Dororo was able to get a good look at Kururu's eyes, now filled with tears. After Dororo managed to shake off the shock he felt that Kururu was actually icrying/i Dororo gasped at what he saw.

"They….are different." Dororo stared at the orbs that he had been so curious about. Kururu flinched away at Dororo's odd stare.

"No…stop….stop staring at me…." He spoke softly. Dororo ignored his superior's request and instead scooted closer. A blue hand rose to hold the yellow Keronian's head forward so Kururu wouldn't turn away again. Dororo wanted to stare at the eyes, now he truly could see why people made fun of the Science Officer.

The first thing he noted was the inversion. It looked so odd, black was where white should have been. His eyes, large and glowing red, just the sight kept the ninja's own locked to Kururu. Black and red. His eyes were inverted black and red. Truly different, Dororo had to admit.

"Your eyes….they are…so-"

"Horrid? Different? iDemonic/i?" Kururu's voice grew dark again. " Ku ku ku….Believe me, I heard them all by the time I was in third grade." The yellow Keronian still cried despite his growing bitter attitude.

"No…that's not it.." Dororo started, but Kururu cut him off.

"Then say it, dammit!" Kururu growled, and together with his inverted eyes, it really seemed creepy. "If you hate me too now, I don't care…Just leave me alone." Dororo didn't answer to his superior's remark and only continued sitting. After a sigh, he said,

"I've never seen eyes quite like yours before." The ninja tried to keep his voice low and gentle to not cause Kururu to get any angrier.

"….My father married across the border of Salina and I got the eyes of my mother." The yellow Science officer put it simply.

"Wait, I thought we were at war with them for a time." Dororo shifted his position to a more comfortable one.

"We were, but my father was one of the Majors who was part of the group who held the peace conference with them about a year after it started."

"I see…"

"He fell in love with my mother, regardless that she looked different than others back in his home country." Kururu sighed and averted his eyes to look again at the ground where the shredded remains of the card still lay. Dororo nervously took a breath.

"I don't think your eyes are that bad….subI think they look rather beautiful…./sub" a blush immediately followed the ninja's words. Kururu didn't react at first, but then looked straight into Dororo's eyes.

"... I highly doubt that." he grunted. Dororo stuttered for a second, then quickly asked his next question.

"So you wear those glasses to hide your eyes?" he held up the glasses in his hands to look at, but Kururu snatched them back. Surprisingly he didn't bother putting them back on; he only held them in his lap.

"Not only. I am quite blind without them, so it was a situation where I hit two kids with one stone."

"Don't you mean birds?"

"Oh no, I mean kids…ku ku ku ku…" Kururu laughed at his own inward joke, to which Dororo didn't bother asking about. He probably didn't want to know anyways. "What about you? You must have a crappy childhood with how sensitive your trauma-switch is, ku ku ku…" a jolt of truth hit Dororo like a sledgehammer. His trauma switch was rather easy to flip, and there was a lot of good reason for it to.

"…one could say that…" he whispered.

"Could say, or does say? Ku ku ku…" Kururu asked, his voice bordering normal again. Dororo sighed quietly.

"…I didn't have a single friend from when I started grade school until I was about 12…I think…" Kururu laughed lightly for his own reasons, but Dororo continued. "My first friends were Giroro and Keroro. I met them when they were playing in the playground. I wanted to join, but the last time I had asked if I could play with a kid he tossed me in the river, so I didn't bother asking them and just watched."

"Only tossed you in the river? I've suffered far worse than that."

"After an hour Giroro noticed me and asked if I wanted to play with them on the swings. I was so happy I didn't know how to respond. However Giroro got the message and we all played together."

"I don't see how that memory qualifies for being sad in any way."

"…after a while, we decided to play hide and seek. I had a great hiding spot, perhaps a little too good. I waited there for hours and nothing happened. When I finally decided to reveal myself, I found that Keroro and Giroro had abandoned me long before, and I was left alone in the park. That was the first time they forgot about me…"

"Everywhere and every day, they would forget my name, forget I was with them...forgetting everything about me..." Dororo had to quickly cut his story off or else he risked turning on his own trauma switch. Kururu turned to look stoically at the Lance Corporal.

"You could look at that as a fresh slate every time, ku ku ku, optimism amuses me at how absurd it is." Dororo noticed how more often Kururu seemed to have his laugh again, and for some reason, it relieved him to hear it. Maybe it just showed him that Kururu had been cheered up somewhat. Not that he would have cared otherwise, that's what he tried to convince himself.

"I wish I could have been more like you, Kururu; people at least noticed you..." just shy of triggering a major trauma attack, Dororo's voice was light and small. He turned to see Kururu's reaction. The yellow Keronian's face shadowed as his voice came out darker than Dororo had ever heard before.

"No one. Forgets. Me..." a different, more evil aura began to emanate from Kururu, starting to frighten Dororo at how evil it became so quickly.

After a few more minutes of familiar silence, Dororo sneaked a look at the clock on the closest wall. It was almost time where the Pekoponian's would be awaking, so he decided he had to go soon.

"You know, Kururu?" Dororo slowly turned his body to face his superior. Kururu stared at him to show the ninja had his attention. A second passed, then another. Hesitation laced through Dororo, but then he made up his mind. Suddenly he launched forwards a bit to catch Kururu in a hug, his arms around the yellow Science Officers neck. Kururu froze when he felt the contact; he never expected Dororo ever feel so close to anyone, especially him, the sadistic Science Officer who was also one who forgot about him often. Dororo whispered shyly,

"You know I meant what I said about your eyes…they are truly, very beautiful..." Dororo quickly pulled away with a cherry-red blush on his blue cheeks. Before another second could pass, the bashful ninja rocketed from the room, and as quickly and silently like a blowing leaf, retreated from the Hinata household. Kururu was left there, amazed at Dororo's actions. What surprised him even more was he felt a blush on his own cheeks. With a smirk, Kururu let out another laugh.

"…Thank you, Dororo…" and then Kururu once again looked at the pile of shredded paper of the once New Year's card. It was then a new idea hit Kururu. That kind of invention would be nice, but he would need someone to test it out. He thought for a second who it should be, then he remembered Dororo.

'iKeroro and others always forgot me….always forgot me…/i' and then the Keronian decided that the Sergeant would have one hell of a surprise in the next few days.


End file.
